Tucsonans Likely to Vote Again on CAP

Tucson's water struggles continue, with yet another voter initiative giving voters one more opportunity to decide the fate of Central Arizona Project water in their community. The Citizens Alliance for Water Security filed nearly 22,000 signa-tures attached to an initiative proposal, more than twice the number needed to place the initiative on the ballot.

Its presence on the November ballot would mark the fourth time in a dozen years that Tucson voters have been asked to decide CAP water use. The persistence of the issue has prompted some to speak of it in intergenerational terms, with the latest initiative dubbed, "Son of Proposition 200." Passed in 1995, Proposition 200 restricted delivery of treated CAP water. A related initiative promoting recharge was defeated at the ballot in 1987 and a 1997 initiative would have severely weakened Proposition 200's provisions.

The present proposition would in effect revise Proposition 200's Water Consumer Protection Act. The new proposition's provisions include the following:

• The ban on direct delivery of treated river water would be extended for five years, unless salt content is significantly reduced. The 5-year period would commence when Tucson Water is in full compliance with terms of the ballot measure.
• Salaries of mayor and City Council members would be withheld if they failed to meet specified deadlines.
• A super-majority of five votes from the seven-member mayor and council would be required to raise water rates, instead of the four "yes" votes the city charter now specifies.
• Groundwater supplies in the city's central basin would be fully replenished within five years with recharged treated CAP water.

Opponents to city water policy have cast the CAP controversy as between the common citizen and a power structure made up of city politicians, utility officials and developers. Since the last CAP voter initiative in 1995, Tucson Water hired a new director, David Modeer. Under his leadership Tucson Water has been more actively promoting at the grassroot level CAP direct delivery.

Both sides of the controversy agree that CAP water should be used to preserve dwindling groundwater reserves. Opinions differs whether it should be delivered to citizens, or used solely for agricultural, mining, and industrial purposes.

New Navajo Pumping Plant Promises Potatoes

Irrigated acreage on the Navajo reservation will be expanding when a new pumping plant begins operation this summer. A component of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP), the Gallegos Pumping Plant will increase reservation irrigated acreage by about a third, from the current 64,000 acres to 84,000 acres.

The Gallegos Plant will draw a maximum of 880 cubic feet per second from the San Juan River, lifting the water 330 feet to a sandy plateau to irrigate potato crops destined to become potato chips. Operating at full capacity, the eight pumps will run at 39,600 horsepower and consume about $1.1 million worth of electricity per year.

Increased irrigated acreage promises employment opportunities to the Navajo Tribe which has an unemployment rate of about 44 percent. The additional irrigated acreage may create as many as 3,000 new jobs.

The Gallegos Plant is the latest step taken toward fully implementing the NIIP. The project was constructed to fulfill a 1868 treaty obligation and also is a partial payment to the tribe for 110,000 acre-feet of water delivered annually to Albuquerque. The Navajo have water rights of 508,000 acre-feet per year from Navajo Dam.

Constructed in the early 1960s, the NIIP did not begin operations until 1973. The project at first watered 10,000 acres and was slowly expanded. With expenditures to date totaling $406 million, the project now irrigates 63,900 acres by means of sprinkler irrigation. Future plans call for another pumping plant to irrigate an additional 26,000 acres.

When completed NIIP is expected to be one of the largest Indian irrigation projects in the country. Considering, however, that estimates for completing the proposed pumping plant range from seven to 12 years this distinction resides in the future. Nor is the delay in constructing the proposed pumping plant an isolated occurrence. Funding of the entire NIIP has been an ongoing struggle due to Congressional opposition to BIA's funding requests. Because of this situation implementation of NIIP is now about 30 years behind schedule.

DDT Found in Fish, Wildlife on Lower Gila

Researchers have reportedly found a direct link between contaminated drinking water and stomach ulcers. Scientists at Pennsylvania State University interviewed residents who drank from wells and other private, untreated water sources in Pennsylvania where the bacteria Helicobacter pylori was found. They found a statistically significant correlation between the presence of the bacteria and stomach ulcers in residents who drank the contaminated water. Water is usually tested for coliform bacteria in water systems around the country, however the ulcer-causing H. pylori bacteria was found in coliform-free water samples — indicating that current testing standards may not be adequate. The new research may not be inconsistent with the theory linking stomach ulcers and stress, because stress produces acid in the stomach that aids in the growth of bacteria.